Electricity-Generating Roadways

Posted by Alex in Car & Vehicle, Science & Tech on December 29, 2008 at 2:18 pm


Israeli energy company Innowattech has created a new type of road that generates electricity as cars drive on it:

The supercharged surface is embedded with piezoelectric crystals, which transform kinetic energy from passing vehicles into an electrical current. With widespread adoption, the technology could feed energy back into the nation’s burgeoning electric vehicle grid, transforming congested roadways into a clean green source of energy.

The amount of electricity produced isn’t that much (400 kilowatts per kilometer or 645/mi), and there’s no mention on how cost effective it would be. But given the sheer amount of roadways we have (the US has over 4 million miles of roads and streets in its highway system alone), it’s an interesting albeit niche approach to generate electricity.

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COMMENT

10 comments to "Electricity-Generating Roadways"

  1. Chris
    December 29th, 2008 at 5:27 pm

    They should not be worrying about how to generate electricity from the roads until they figure out how to keep the potholes filled!

  2. DOJ
    December 29th, 2008 at 6:13 pm

    Solar or wind power is no good because it's not always sunny/windy, but luckily it's always rush hour.

  3. Jenny
    December 29th, 2008 at 6:23 pm

    You ever see a word, and it just doesn't look right, but instead of thinking it might be spelled wrong, you just second-guess yourself? Well that's what happened to me with the title of this post.

  4. liphttam1
    December 29th, 2008 at 6:48 pm

    Ive heard of theese. They were in popular science but they were sidewalks.

  5. Gauldar
    December 29th, 2008 at 9:55 pm

    I heard of this project on the radio, thanks for the link!

  6. Chakolate
    December 29th, 2008 at 11:43 pm

    This might make sense for a sidewalk, but any such thing put on the roadway will decrease gas mileage, for zero net gain.

  7. Alex
    December 30th, 2008 at 3:14 am

    ElectricIty - I can spel. Really I kan.

  8. DJDJ
    December 30th, 2008 at 8:45 pm

    There is no such thing as a free lunch.

    The energy output from the system comes from somewhere. Now, just where does it come from, you ask? Well, you should ask.

    If it generates electrical energy from the kinetic energy of passing cars, then it reduces the kinetic energy of those passing cars in the process, which means they slow down. So, those passing cars burn must burn fuel at a higher rate to keep from slowing down. Make no mistake about it; the source of energy is the fuel in the tanks of those passing cars.

    This is not a "clean green source of energy", it is simply a very poor way of converting gasoline and diesel fuel into electrical energy. It obeys the laws of physics. Deal with it.

  9. abc
    December 31st, 2008 at 2:56 am

    from Innowattech's site: "The generators are placed under the upper asphalt layer. The generators possess the same elasticity as the asphalt, and therefore, provide the same resistance to the wheels as asphalt".
    Looks like a nice solution!

  10. Ralph
    December 31st, 2008 at 6:22 pm

    I like this:

    "Innowattech estimation shows a potential of about hundreds till thousand kilowatts per hour."

    What the hell units are "kilowatts per hour"?

    Whoever wrote this (or translated it) doesn't have a clue what he wrote about.


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